New Year's Day at the Grand Canyon
Mr. San Diego and I couldn't think of a better way to ring in 2017 than by waking up early and spending the first sunrise of the year at the Grand Canyon! We woke up an hour before sunrise, walked down to Mather Point, and waited in 30 degree weather for the sun to rise and grace us with its presence.
Turns out, the sunrise had other ideas and was too lazy to spend the morning with us.
It didn't matter. It was absolutely perfect and calm as could be. It was everything we hoped it would be; sans the sunrise. Eventually, the sun came out to play - if only for a few brief hours.
At the risk of sounding completely banal, the Grand Canyon is completely magical. It is a place that I love for two reasons. One - the very obvious omg-this-is-amazing, nature-is-outstanding, I'm-insignificant-in-comparison scenic wonder; and two - Mr. San Diego asked me to marry him at the Grand Canyon almost two years ago! We walked a bit off the beaten path, found a perfect little ledge, and then almost fell off said ledge. When I saw the scruffy nerf herder I fell in love with holding a ring, I was speechless. Literally speechless. He could barely muster the words to ask and I could barely muster up a response. It's a subject of some debate, but I'm fairly certain it took almost two minutes for my answer.
The photo above is "our spot". This pose is the answer I should have given him when he asked me to be his wife. Just kidding. What good is a mawwiage if you don't want to lovingly throw each other off a cliff every once in a while? I said LOVINGLY. Geez.
We spent New Year's Day walking almost 12 miles and we almost slipped on icy paths about 35 times. ALMOST. It was truly a miracle that we never actually fell on our asses completely.
We ended our adventure back at Mather Point in hopes for a fogless sunset. Alas, the fog and snow came back, but watching the stormy darkness roll into the canyons made my dark heart very happy.
Even with our nine hour drive, waking up before sunrise to draw on my eyebrows, exploring on foot for 12 miles, getting whipped by the wind blown snow, and going more than four consecutive hours without coffee, I felt completely refreshed and ready to start off the New Year with a clear mind and light heart. Nature can have that effect on you.
On our way back to San Diego, we decided to take the scenic route through Sedona. We got snowed on one last time before our trip was over.
One hour in Sedona is simply NOT enough. We were able to explore a little, but my heart wasn't ready to leave. We will definitely be spending a weekend in Sedona very soon.
